L is for Living

Great News! Another clear check on my cancer - all good for my ankle and chest scans. Left at 8am this morning with my Aunt Susan and returned at 4pm. Nice to get scans and results on the same day. Aunt Susan and I even got to squeeze in a yummy lunch. Happy Spring! I will go back again June 23rd and then enjoy a wonderful summer.

L is for luminary

This week I attended our first meeting for our Relay for Life team - we walked with a team from the boys school (Whitworth Elementary) last May. For those of you who don't know Relay for Life raises money to fight cancer. I enjoyed this event last year and we bought and decorated luminary bags for Bud's Dad and my Mom - these candle bags are lined up around the track and then are lite so you can see them as your walk during the night - it was very touching to find each bag. This year I know I will make a bag for myself - I also know that when I find it on the track I will break down in tears. I will be grateful that I will be able to walk and that my Mom is still living a full and happy life, but I know I will cry for the loss of Bud's Dad - he had a wonderful life, but we still miss him. The event will again be in May and our team is working on fundraising - we plan to do a garage sale and car wash. I am adjusting to the fact that I am one of the people everyone is fighting for, but I will keep walking, fighting, praying and laughing!

November 18 2008 The News

It had been one week since my surgery, I had just picked up Jake from pre-school and was driving home to be in time to get William and Luke off the school bus and then I received a call from my surgeon. He told me that he "just about feel off his chair" when he read the results of the biopsy. He told me that I had synovial sarcoma and that he wanted me to call an oncologist in Salem. I quickly wrote all the information down, after I dug through my car looking for paper and pen. I had to compose myself and get the other boys off the bus. I am very fortunate to have a wonderful neighbor who I felt comfortable telling right away. I made arrangements with her to watch all the boys with her kids so I could make phone calls and research on the net. I think I was in shock most of the day and it took until the next morning to actually make an appointment with the oncologist for the next week. The hardest part of the day was waiting for Bud to come home so I could tell him the news - it had only been three weeks since we attended the funeral of his dear father who had died of cancer. Lots of tears that night. It still took me a couple of days before I was able to break the news to my family and my boys - they are so wonderful. It is still hard to shock people with the news.